The present invention relates to a mechanism for attaching a recording medium to a printing system.
Fixing units have been known for fixing a recording medium to a recording device. For example, fixing units have been known for directly attaching a recording medium to a recording device using clinging force of static electricity or air suction. With these type of fixing units, the user manually positions the recording medium near the fixing unit so that the static electric force or suction force can pull the recording medium and fix it in place. However, when the user grasps the recording medium and carries it from where it is stored to the fixing unit, the recording medium can be folded or wrinkled where the user grasps the recording medium. This is particularly a problem when the recording medium is large sized.
There are also known mechanisms that clasp a recording medium from above and support the recording medium in the vertical direction. However, before the user fixes the position of the recording medium using such a mechanism, the user must first align the recording medium in the horizontal direction while supporting it in the vertical direction. These two processes can be tedious to perform simultaneously.
When the recording medium is large, the user must support the recording medium to prevent it from falling while positioning the recording medium horizontally. Therefore, such mechanisms are extremely difficult to use.
Further, it is difficult to support the weight of large recording media having a size of an A2 sheet or larger. This is especially the case when the recording medium is a lithographic plate, such as an aluminum plate, used in a lithographic printing machine. Simple conventional fixing devices can not support such plates.